Abstract [en]

The purpose of this study was to describe nurses' experiences of working in home health care and thus enhance the understanding and knowledge of the conditions of night work. The study had a qualitative descriptive design and fourteen nurses answered the questionnaires. The material was analysed using content analysis. The analysis resulted from a theme with the following categories: night work as a choice for practical reasons, broaderperspective gives job satisfactionand the recognitionof thecomplexityof the workgives asense of dissatisfaction. The majority of the nurses chose to work in night patrol to earn extra money, as well as the close proximity to their work. All the nurses emphasised the importance of having enough time at home visits. Most men, however, considered their skills too advanced for the tasks they performed in home nursing. That they then chose to remain with the night patrol was because they experienced their work as independent, free and stimulating. The nurses said that they felt left out when it came to decisions. Several complained that the managers had no understanding of their working conditions. The need for home care will increase and more staff will be needed. To recruit and retain nurses within home care is a challenge. It is therefore important to find out how health professionals perceive their working conditions and discover what might attract more people to work in home health care.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages

2011. , p. 31

Keyword [en]

work environment, work conditions, night work, nurse, home health care